Roller attachment for rocking-chairs



Sept. 9 1924.

T. BI.BARNETT Y' ROLLER ATTACHMENT FO-R ROCKING CHAIRS Filed Jan. 30, 1924 @www Cil

Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

itesm THOMAS B. BARNETT, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

ROLLER ATTACHMENT FOR BOOKING-CHAIRS.

Application filed January 30, 1924. Serial No. 689,550.

rolled withcase about theroom, thus facilitating the handling of heavy chairs and 'avoiding any dra-gging'for lifting of rocking chairs.

More. particularly my invention comprises brackets attachable to the chair rockers. adjacent to the back legs-and rollersmounted upon a rocker shaft `jour'naled in said brackets and adapted to be pressed into operating position by" the' foot and there automatically latched7 said rockers beingreturned to inoperative position by spring means when the latch is tripped by the foot. This avoids any stooping orhandamanipulation in the. control of the rollers whichzcan be set and-released inthe easiest possible manner. 1 f f My invention also comprises the novel details of the bracket mounting of therocker shaft and of the spring-pressed latch for setting the rollers in operating position.

My invention also comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts, which in their preferred embodiment 'only areillustrated in the accompanying ldrawings which form a part of this specification, and in which i 1 Fig. 1 is an enlarged fragmental view in side elevation of a rocking chair showing my invention applied with the Arollers ap'- pearing in full lines in operating position and in dotted lines in inoperative position.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View of Fig. 1 showing the roller mechanism in rear elevation. j

Fig. 3 is a reduced View showing a rocking chair equipped with my invention in inoperative position; and

Fig. 4 is a pressed latch.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

in the embodiment of my invention illusdetail view of the springtrated, 'I show a typical rocking chair 1 having rear vertical legs 2 and rockers 8.

I mount on the rockers brackets 4 and 5,

each bracket having a top leg screwed to the upper surface of its respective rockerand having an upturned portion 6 of double thickness which has a bearing hole drilled l therein to :receive the trunnion 7 at the adjacent end of a square rocker shaft 8. `The extensions 9 of the portions 6 which drop below the top lever of the rockers are of substantial -width and arey connected `by screws 10 `to the inside face of their respective rockers. T he extension 9 of the bracket 4 has its lower end bent lout and then up at 11 in spaced parallelism with 9 to form a housing in which I pivotally mount on the screw 10 a latch 12 which is received snugly between the housing walls 9 and 11 and is braced against lateral or rocking play between them. rIhe rear end '13 of the latch extends upwardly on a curve land is connected vby a coiled tension spring 11i to the adjacent rocker. The body portion 15 of the latch has a flat bottom edge 16 which extends forwardly to a point-approximately under its pivot and from that point it is bevelled or inclined upwardly to form the latch end 17. ln the upper edge of this latch is 'formed a notch 18 having a rear Wall 19, which stands substantially vertically7 and itsy forward vwall 2O is formed with an indentation which will cause it to hook over and hold a pin 21. This pin is secured ,to ther yoke 22 which also carries the roller 23 disposed adjacent to the latch. This yoke is attached near one end to the rocker shaft 8 and a similar yoke 22 is attached near the other end of the rocker shaft 8. The pin 21 overhangs far enough to `be engaged and controlled by the latch in the manner hereinafter described.

I mount near either end of the rocker shaft 8 until they raise and support in part the weight of the chair. This causes the arm 2lito swing upwardly against the tension of the spring 25. As the roller yokes swing downwardly the pin 21 engages and travels over the upper bevelled or inclined face of the end 17 of the latch, depressing the latch against the tension of spring 1a until the pin snaps into the latch notch 18. Thereupon the latch rocks back to the position shown in full lines, Fig. 1, and the pin bears against the face 19 in the slot which positively holds the rollers in operative position against the pull of the spring 25 and against the thrust strain when the chair is pushed forward. If the chair be pulled backward the pin will swing across the notch 18 and will engage under the hook 20 and this will resist the thrust strain or drag of the rollers when the chair is pulled backward. The rollers while thus in operative position are so disposed that by grasping the chair back its entire weight can readily be imposed on the rollers to make movement of the chair easy. VJhen the chair has been moved to the point desired, the operator kicks the rear end of the latch upwardly, moving it against the tension of spring 14; and swinging its latch end 17 downwardly so as to disengage it from the pin 22, whereupon the spring 25 acts to draw the rocker shaft and rollers back to, and hold them in their inoperative dotted line position, as shown in Fig. 1. It will be observed that the latch has considerable width, thus increasing its surface engagement between the walls 9 and l1 of its housing, thereby preventing any tendency of it to rock laterally on its pivot and giving it the requisite strength to perform its functions without undue weight of metal.

The bottom edge 16 of the latch forms a stop when it engages the bottom of its housing to limit its movement responsive to the spring 1a, and in like manner the bevelled bottom edge of the latch end 17 will engage the bottom of its housing and serve to limit the unlatching stroke of the latch. The spring 25 will hold the rollers in their inoperative position.

'Ihough I have described with great particularity the details of the embodiment of the invention herein shown, it is not to be construed that I am limited thereto, as

changes in arrangement and substitution of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is z 1. A roller attachment for rocking chairs, comprising brackets attachable to the chair rockers, a rocker shaft journaled in the brackets, rollers mounted in bearings offset from said shaft, a latch element rigid with one roller bearing, a spring-pressed latch having spaced jaws adapted to receive between them said latch element and hold the rollers in operating position against forward or backward thrust, one of said brackets having' its lower end bent to form a housing in which the latch is pivotally mounted, said latch having angularly disposed bottom edges adapted to engage said housing to limit its rocking play in both directions, and spring means to retract the rollers to ino l erative position.

2. In a roller attachment for rocking chairs, a pair of angle brackets attached to the chair rockers, a rocker shaft mounted in said brackets and carrying rollers mounted eccentric to the shaft axis, spring means tending to hold said rollers in inoperative position, a latch pivoted to one bracket, a pin movable with the rocker shaft and adapted to be engaged and held by said latch with the rollers in operative position, and spring means to vforce the latch into engagement with said pin, said latch having a rearward projection convenient to be kicked up by the foot to disengage the pin, as and for the purposes described.

3. A roller attachment for rocking chairs in accordance with claim 2, in which the latch co-acts with stops on both sides ofv and below its pivot to limit its rocking movements in both directions and has an inclined upper edge up which the pin rides against the action of the latch spring as the rollers are forced downwardly into operating position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

THOMAS B. BARNETT.

Vitness N 0Min WELSH. 

